AFTER a lifetime in the shipyards, Frank Russell cycled through the gates yesterday to pick up his tools for the last time.

But when he looked around at some of the other workers who had been told their services were no longer needed, he realised his heart was not in it any more.

"I went down to get my tools but I saw a couple of young lads and I said 'I don't need these anymore, you have them'," he said.

At 64, he had applied for redundancy in February, but was turned down on the grounds that the yards needed his skills as a corker burner, testing pipes to make sure they were waterproof.

But on Thursday, he was one of 110 workers at Cammell Laird's Teesside yard who were told they might as well pack up their things and go.

"I was hoping I would finish my time off or I would go when I wanted to go, but there is nothing I can do about it now.

"I won't get another job now. I've only three months to go before retirement, so I will have to go and fill the forms in until then."

Mr Russell can remember the date he started work at the South Bank shipyard - January 29, 1988 - after spells at other yards on the Tees.

And he has seen it in the hands of two other owners, before it was bought by Cammell Laird in 1998.

The demise of Cammell's is the second time he was been in at the closure of a shipyard.

He said: "I was there at Smith's Dock when it closed 15 years ago. We had work then but they were phasing shipbuilding out.

"There is no work now but everyone is very annoyed at the way it has happened, so suddenly. We were expecting to close down - just not so early."

For the 29 workers remaining at the yard, their stay of execution looks like being short-lived. Kept on to finish work on two ships, they know this is likely to take one or two weeks.

In the meantime, they face working in a yard which has become a shadow of its former self.

The receivers say there have been some expressions of interest in taking over the yard as a going concern - but no one is feeling confident.

One of the remaining workers, who asked not to be named, said: "It was awful when everyone was told they were going. I don't want to see another day like that again.

"We have got to keep hoping, but it doesn't look too good at the moment. Things are already getting picked over before they are even sold off.

"Only small firms operate on the river now - there are no large engineering employers. It means the river is dead."

As Mr Russell passes through the gates on his bike, heading for his Ormesby home, he leaves behind his colleagues for the last time.

"They were all shipyard men, they were all fair men but they have just got rid of them. It is a wrench to leave them.